Girlfriends and Brothers
by OwenHarpersGirl
Summary: TJ and Douglas are brothers and best friends, but there's a problem: Douglas's girlfriend doesn't like TJ and Douglas doesn't even know. Set when TJ and Douglas are 15, just after TJ comes out. Two-Shot
1. The Girlfriend

Girlfriends and Brothers

The Girlfriend

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Political Animals**_** nor am I affiliated with them in any way**

**Note: Takes place when Douglas and TJ are fifteen and shortly after TJ came out.**

Douglas sat at one of the tables in the tutoring centre. The room was empty, save for two students on free period who needed a quiet place to work. This meant Douglas was free to talk quietly to his girlfriend, Taylor. They were talking about the movie they were going to see after school when Taylor's eyes wandered over Douglas's shoulder and her expression hardened.

"What is he doing here?" she asked and Douglas turned to see TJ had entered the room.

"Hey man, what's up?" Douglas asked.

"Um, Ms. Nelson sent down," TJ said, "We've got this worksheet and I don't really understand any of it so she sent me here."

"Alright," Douglas nodded as he stood and looked at Taylor, "I'm gonna go help him. He only listens to me anyway." He smiled and she tried to smile back, but as Douglas walked away the smile dropped and was replaced by a glare at TJ.

Forty minutes later, Douglas and TJ finished the worksheet right before the end of class.

"Do you get it now?" Douglas asked.

"I think so," TJ nodded, "I mean, some of the longer questions are still a little confusing. But other than that the rest makes sense."

"Alright, well we can go over them again when we get home," Douglas said.

"Um, Douglas, we're supposed to be going to a movie after school, remember?" Taylor reminded him.

"Oh, yeah," Douglas said, "Um..." TJ glanced at Taylor and saw the way she was looking at him.

"It's cool bro," TJ said, "I can figure it out."

"Well, the movie's only a couple hours," Douglas said, "Do you have any other worksheets?"

"Once we finished this one Ms. Nelson had two more for us," TJ told him, "She said we have a test on this stuff tomorrow."

"Alright, go hand that in to Ms. Nelson and get the other sheets," Douglas said, "Try them and anything you don't get I'll help you with when I get home, okay?"

"Thanks Dougie," TJ said just as the bell rang.

"No problem," Douglas said, "Now go hand in your work." TJ smiled at his brother and left. Douglas turned back to Taylor who was already packing up their stuff.

"You okay?" Douglas asked.

"Yup," she said, "Just try not to be too distracted by your brother while we're out tonight."

"I promise I won't be," Douglas said, "Come on, the movie starts in half an hour."

POLITICALANIMALSPOLITICALANIMALSPOLITICALANIMALSPOLITICAL

TJ ran his fingers over the keys, playing effortlessly. He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Douglas standing in the doorway.

"Sounds good man," Douglas said.

"Thanks," TJ smiled, "How was the movie?"

"It was good, yeah," Douglas nodded, "Taylor seemed kind of out of it though."

"I'm sure she's fine dude," TJ said and Douglas nodded.

"So, um, how did your math go?" Douglas asked.

"I got most of it, but some of the questions were really confusing," TJ admitted.

"Alright, do you want to have another look at it?" Douglas asked.

"Yeah, sure," TJ nodded and he and Douglas walked to their room. He grabbed his homework and sat next to his brother. They were working for about twenty minutes when Douglas's phone rang.

"It's Taylor," he said, "Try the next one while I talk to her." TJ nodded and started on the next question while Douglas answered.

"Hey Taylor ... Me and TJ are doing homework ... Tonight? I don't think I'll be able to ... Well we've still got some more work to do and then our grandmother is here for dinner tonight ... I don't want to get out of it ... Listen, why don't you come over tomorrow? ... Alright, great ... Bye." He hung up and looked at the question TJ had just finished.

"You don't have to stay here with me you know," TJ said, "If Taylor wants to go out tonight then you should go."

"It's cool," Douglas said, "I'm gonna see her tomorrow. I want to hang out with you tonight." TJ nodded, but did not reply.

"What's wrong?" Douglas asked.

"Nothing," TJ shook his head.

"TJ come," Douglas said, "What's up?"

"I just don't think Taylor likes me very much," TJ admitted.

"What? Sure she does," Douglas said, but TJ didn't look convinced, "TJ, come on. Taylor likes you, alright?"

"Yeah," TJ nodded and smiled slightly at Douglas, "So, did I get this question right?"

**Hope you liked this! I'm going to upload part two tomorrow!**

**Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!**


	2. The Brother

The Brother

The next day, Douglas and TJ were walking down the hall towards their lockers.

"What if I fail?" TJ said, "If I fail this test I might not pass the class."

"TJ you're not going to fail," Douglas said, "We went over all the questions and you did great. I totally believe you'll pass this test."

"Thanks Dougie," TJ said as he put his stuff in his locker and closed the door.

"Don't mention it," Douglas said, doing the same.

"Don't mention what?" Taylor asked as she came up behind Douglas and wrapped an arm around his waist, "Good morning."

"Morning," Douglas said, draping an arm over her shoulders.

"I was just thanking Douglas for all his help studying for my test," TJ said.

"Oh, right," Taylor said stiffly and looked at Douglas, "Babe, we should head to class."

"Right," Douglas nodded, reached his hand over to squeeze TJ's shoulder, "Good luck man. You can do it."

"Thanks bro," TJ said as he watched them walk away. He turned the opposite way and started walking towards his class.

"I can do this, I can do this," TJ repeated, "I can do this."

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Douglas and Taylor were sitting in the kitchen after school as they tried to decide what to do.

"We were just at the movies yesterday," Taylor sighed, "What about going to the mall?" Douglas had just opened his mouth to respond when he heard his name being called.

"Dougie! Dougie!" TJ ran into the room, a huge grin on his face, "Look! Look! I did it! I passed! I got a B+!"

"TJ this is amazing!" Douglas exclaimed, "I'm so proud of you! Mom and dad are gonna be so happy!"

"This is all thanks to you dude," TJ said, "I couldn't have passed without your help."

"Sure you could," Douglas waved him off, "All I did was stop you from getting distracted every five seconds."

"Well, I think you did more than that," Taylor simpered.

"You really did man," TJ said, "Thank you."

"Anytime," Douglas said, "We should celebrate later."

"I'm sure mom and dad'll be too busy," TJ shrugged.

"You and me then," Douglas said, "We can ask mom if we can order a pizza and we can play video games all night. It's Friday so it's not like we have school tomorrow."

"You sure you won't be too busy?" TJ asked.

"Actually, we were just about to go to the mall and I was thinking you and I could get dinner after," Taylor said, glaring at TJ. TJ's expression dropped slightly, but he tried not to look too downcast. He didn't want to interrupt Douglas and Taylor's plans and knew if Douglas thought TJ wanted him to stay home then he would.

"Well," Douglas said after a moment, "We can go to the mall today, but I'd really like to hang out with TJ tonight. Maybe tomorrow I could take you out for dinner? We can go wherever you want."

"Fine," Taylor said icily, not looking at Douglas, "If you're not too tired from playing video games all night."

"Alright then," Douglas said, "I'm going to go get my coat and then we can leave." He walked out of the room, leaving Taylor and TJ alone. As soon as he was gone, Taylor rounded on TJ.

"You just had to ruin my plans again, didn't you?" she snapped.

"What?" TJ asked.

"Last night Douglas ran home after the movie to help you with homework," she spat, "Today he'll hang out with me for a few hours, but then he just has to come home to see you."

"I-I didn't ask him to," TJ stammered.

"No, you just turn on the "helpless, queer brother" act and he's right there. It's humiliating! Douglas is such a great guy and he got stuck wit a f** for a brother!" There was a cough from the doorway and they snapped their heads around to see Douglas standing there.

"Hey Douglas," Taylor said sweetly, "TJ and I were just talking about-"

"Save it," Douglas said shortly, "You should go."

"What?" Taylor said in disbelief, "But Douglas-"

"But nothing," Douglas said, "Taylor, there is nothing you could say that would make me change my mind right now."

"This is all your fault!" Taylor cried, turning on TJ.

"No, this is your fault," Douglas said simply, "I couldn't date a girl that doesn't get along with my brother. And I won't date a girl who calls him _that_."

"Fine," Taylor snapped, "It's your loss." She stormed out and they heard the door slam.

"No, it's really not," Douglas mumbled and then walked over to his brother, "Are you okay?"

"I, uh, I don't think Taylor likes me," TJ said, attempting to smile at Douglas.

"Then that's her loss," Douglas said and TJ managed a smile.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Forget about it," Douglas said, "I meant what I said. Whoever I date needs to get along with you. If they don't get along with mom and dad I could live with that. But I'd really like it if they got along with you. And if they call you any name, especially that one, then forget it."

"Thanks," TJ said quietly and Douglas clapped his brother on the back.

"Come on," he said, "Lets show mom and dad your test and see about getting a pizza later."

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Later that night, the two boys sat in their room, an empty pizza box discarded on the desk as they focused intently on the screen.

"Come on! Come on!" Douglas said, hitting the buttons on his controller.

"Yes!" TJ exclaimed, "Victory!" Douglas laughed and shook his head.

"You tired bro?" TJ asked.

"Nope, why? Are you?" Douglas said.

"No, but getting your ass kicked can be pretty exhausting," TJ smirked, "If you need a break just let me know."

"Haha, very funny," Douglas said, "We'll see who's laughing after I beat you this round." They picked up their controllers and resumed playing, both of them ignoring when Douglas's phone rang over and over. Douglas knew who it was and wasn't interesting in speaking, but he knew he'd have a lot of messages to delete in the morning.

**Alright, so I hope you liked it! Let me know what you think and thanks for reading!**


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